Walsh, Emmet
Wonderfully talented, heavy set character actor (from New York, but regularly playing Southerners) has made a solid career of playing corrupt cops, deadly crooks and zany comedic roles since the early 1970s. Firstly appeared in a few fairly forgettable roles both on TV and in the cinema, before cropping up in several well remembered films including as a courtroom police officer in  ...  show all 

Walsh, Emmet
Wonderfully talented, heavy set character actor (from New York, but regularly playing Southerners) has made a solid career of playing corrupt cops, deadly crooks and zany comedic roles since the early 1970s. Firstly appeared in a few fairly forgettable roles both on TV and in the cinema, before cropping up in several well remembered films including as a courtroom police officer in "The What's Up, Doc? (1972)", as the weird Dickie Dunn in "Slap Shot (1977)", and as a looney sniper hunting Steve Martin in "Jerk (1979)". On screen demand heated up for him in the early 1980s with attention grabbing work in key hits including "Brubaker (1980)", "Reds (1981)" and as Harrison Ford 's police chief in the futuristic thriller "Blade Runner (1982)". Walsh then turned in a stellar performance as the sleazy, double crossing private detective in the Coen Bros film noir "Blood Simple. (1984)", and showed up again for the Coens as a loud mouthed, sheet metal worker bugging Nicolas Cage in the hilarious "Raising Arizona (1987)". As Walsh moved into his fifties and beyond Hollywood continued to offer him plenty of work, and he has appeared in over fifty movies since passing his half century in age. His consistent ability to turn out highly entertaining portrayals led film critic Roger Ebert to coin the "Stanton-Walsh Rule" stating that any film starring character actors M. Emmet Walsh or Harry Dean Stanton has to have some merit. And the "M" stands for Michael!
Attended Tilton School in Tilton, N.H.
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